Classifications

• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
  • A61C—DENTISTRY; APPARATUS OR METHODS FOR ORAL OR DENTAL HYGIENE
  • A61C19/00—Dental auxiliary appliances
  • A61C19/02—Protective casings, e.g. boxes for instruments; Bags
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
  • A61G—TRANSPORT, PERSONAL CONVEYANCES, OR ACCOMMODATION SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR PATIENTS OR DISABLED PERSONS; OPERATING TABLES OR CHAIRS; CHAIRS FOR DENTISTRY; FUNERAL DEVICES
  • A61G15/00—Operating chairs; Dental chairs; Accessories specially adapted therefor, e.g. work stands
  • A61G15/14—Dental work stands; Accessories therefor
  • A61G15/16—Storage, holding or carrying means for dental handpieces or the like

Definitions

• This invention relates to a rack for instruments, especially for dental instruments, comprising a drum mounted so as to revolve about a shaft, compartments being provided on the periphery of the drum for at least one instrument and its holder;
• an instrument supply line arranged to be connected to one instrument at a time
• a stationary outer casing surrounding the drum and provided with at least one opening for pulling out at least the instrument connected to the supply line.
• Dental instruments such as various drills and suction devices for removal of saliva, are conventionally placed in instrument bridges having a holder for each instrument.
• instrument bridges usually provide room for four to seven instruments, and are therefore relatively broad since the instrument holders are positioned side by side. So the instrument bridge is clumsy, especially as a tray is usually attached to it. If the tray is fitted at the side of the instrument bridge, it will be positioned too far to allow easy use. On the other hand, it is also problematic to position the tray beneath the instrument bridge because the instruments easily damage the objects on the tray, in addition to which the objects on the tray may be contaminated by various impurities falling from the instruments.
• the tray In practice, it is not either advantageous to position the tray upon the instrument bridge, because the tray thereby has to be positioned relatively high to get the instruments at the most advantageous height.
• the supply line thereby has to be led from under the tray to the instruments, so that it easily hangs over the patient, which may hamper the use of the instruments.
• the object of the present invention is to provide a rack for instruments, especially for dental instruments, which avoids the problems associated with the above-mentioned solutions known from the prior art. This is achieved by means of a rack according to the invention, which is characterized in that walls separating the compartments of the drum are sealed relative to the outer casing; and that the outer casing is provided with means for sterilizing the instruments when they are not being used.
• the rack is relatively narrow.
• the required tray can now be easily positioned on either side or even on both sides of the rack without excessively increasing the width of the instrument bridge so that the instruments and the tray are nevertheless easy to use.
• the instrument supply line is arranged to be connected to one instrument at a time, that is, to the instrument used next in each particular case, which reduces the number of connections required for supplying the instruments as well as the number of magnetic valves, which, being fine-mechanical components, are relatively expensive.
• the drum is surrounded with a stationary outer casing provided with at least one opening for pulling out the instrument to be used in each particular case.
• the opening can be easily made sufficiently large for two instruments one of which projects toward the patient and the other towards the dental assistant, who can thus easily change a drill bit, for instance.
• the instrument drum is for a major part surrounded with a protective casing which prevents the contamination of unused instruments.
• Essential is, however, that the instruments can be sterilized within the outer casing.
• walls separating the different compartments of the drum are sealed relative to the outer casing, and the outer casing is provided with means for sterilizing the instruments which are not being used.
• Such sterilizing means may comprise a source of UV light, a source of sterilizing agents, such as a gas or a liquid, and a vapour sterilizing chamber.
• a source of sterilizing agents such as a gas or a liquid
• a vapour sterilizing chamber may comprise a source of UV light, a source of sterilizing agents, such as a gas or a liquid, and a vapour sterilizing chamber.
• UV light may be arranged to influence everywhere in the outer casing whereas the sterilizing agents can be placed in one particular instrument compartment.
• each instrument can be arranged to enter the vapour chamber once during one revolution of the drum. In this way, both the instruments and the instrument hoses can be sterilized extremely reliably.
• Figure 1 illustrates, by way of example, one specific embodiment of the rack of the invention in a cross-section along its vertical axis
• Figure 2 is a cross-sectional top view of the rack of Figure 1;
• FIG 3 is a more detailed view of a vapour sterilizing chamber comprised in the rack of the invention shown in Figure 1.
• FIGS 1 and 2 illustrate a specific embodiment of the invention by way of example.
• This embodiment comprises an instrument drum 2 rotatable about a central shaft 4, preferably but not necessarily a vertical shaft.
• the instrument drum comprises four instrument compartments 5.
• an instrument 1 is shown in two compartments 5 of the drum 2.
• the drum 2 is surrounded with a stationary outer casing 7 provided with an opening for pulling out the instrument 1 to be used.
• the instrument 1 rests on a holder 3 comprising a forklike part 14 holding the handle 13 of the instrument 1. Due to the resilience of the branches of the forklike part the handle 13 of the instrument 1 can be pushed within the forklike part.
• the holder 3 is attached to the middle portion 17 of a three-part lifting/lowering cylinder by means of two articulated arms 15 and 16.
• the lifting/lowering cylinder comprises an innermost tubular part 18 which is surrounded by another tubular part 17 the top portion of which is surrounded with still another tubular part 19.
• compressed air for instance, is introduced into the innermost tube 18, the middlemost tube 17 and its holder 3 with instrument 1 is caused to rise to a position in which a supply hose 20 attached to the instrument 1 is close to the top of the outer casing 7.
• the middlemost tube 17 with the instrument attached to it is lowered to a position shown in the left in Figure 1.
• the instrument In order that the instrument 1 with the hose 20 attached to it could be passed into the sterilizing chamber 10, the instrument first has to be lifted to its upper position by means of the lifting/lowering cylinder. This is because the sterilizing chamber 10 is stationary in position so that is protrudes over a distance from the base of the outer casing 7 into the compartments 5 of the instrument drum 2. For this reason, the partition walls between the compartments have to be provided e.g. with spring-return hinges 25 to enable the revolving of the drum in spite of the sterilizing chamber 10.
• the hinged portion of the partition walls 8 has to be limited to the lower portion of each wall, corresponding to the sterilizing chamber 10 in height.
• FIG. 3 shows, by way of example and in more detail, the structure of one specific sterilizing chamber.
• the chamber 10 comprises a cylindrical outer wall 31 covered with a thermal insulation 32 on the inside.
• the thermal insulation 32 may be provided with a reflective inner surface 33.
• the chamber comprises a latch 35 for locking the instrument in position for the time of the vapour sterilization.
• a resistor 36 to Be heated electrically is provided at the bottom of the chamber to evaporate water supplied by a valve and a pipe 37, for instance, through the bottom end.
• the water supplied into the chamber can be removed, for instance, through a line provided with a valve 38.
• the chamber 10 is further connected to a source 41 of UV light and it comprises a pipe connection 42 to change the gas contained in the sterilizing chamber, and a pressure/temperature indicator 39.
• This instrumentation enables fully controlled vapour sterilization as well as other ways of sterilization.
• the handle 13 of the instrument 1 is provided with a back valve 40, as shown in the cross-section of Figure 3. If the sterilizing of all the instruments contained in the rack is considered to be too time-consuming, it is, of course, possible that one rack comprises several such chambers.
• the rack of the invention has been described above only by means of one specific embodiment especially suited for dental instruments, particularly for instruments conventionally fitted in an instrument bridge.
• the appearance of the rack of the invention will be slightly different from that shown in the figures if the rack is used with so-called suction side instruments mainly intended for the removal of saliva from the patient's mouth.
• suction side instruments mainly intended for the removal of saliva from the patient's mouth.
• the scope of protection of the present invention such as defined in the attached claims is, however, intended to cover all applications and modifications obvious to one skilled in the art.
• the various uses of the invention include various medical applications in addition to the dental applications already described by way of example above.
• the present embodiment of the rack of the invention offers some major advantages over racks in use today.

Landscapes

• Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
• Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
• Animal Behavior & Ethology (AREA)
• General Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
• Public Health (AREA)
• Veterinary Medicine (AREA)
• Epidemiology (AREA)
• Dentistry (AREA)
• Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery (AREA)
• Dental Tools And Instruments Or Auxiliary Dental Instruments (AREA)
• Apparatus For Disinfection Or Sterilisation (AREA)
• Pens And Brushes (AREA)
• Supports Or Holders For Household Use (AREA)
• Headphones And Earphones (AREA)
• Medicines Containing Material From Animals Or Micro-Organisms (AREA)
• Dental Preparations (AREA)
• Devices For Use In Laboratory Experiments (AREA)
• Vehicle Body Suspensions (AREA)
• Fittings On The Vehicle Exterior For Carrying Loads, And Devices For Holding Or Mounting Articles (AREA)

Priority Applications (3)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=8528377

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (12)

Families Citing this family (9)

Citations (2)

Family Cites Families (2)

• 1989
  • 1989-05-08 FI FI892202A patent/FI89555C/fi not_active IP Right Cessation
• 1990
  • 1990-04-10 JP JP2505794A patent/JP2534585B2/ja not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 1990-04-10 AT AT90905539T patent/ATE119379T1/de not_active IP Right Cessation
  • 1990-04-10 KR KR1019910701550A patent/KR0140233B1/ko not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 1990-04-10 ES ES90905539T patent/ES2069072T3/es not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 1990-04-10 DE DE69017676T patent/DE69017676T2/de not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 1990-04-10 US US07/775,958 patent/US5145366A/en not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 1990-04-10 AU AU54150/90A patent/AU5415090A/en not_active Abandoned
  • 1990-04-10 EP EP90905539A patent/EP0471680B1/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 1990-04-10 DK DK90905539.4T patent/DK0471680T3/da active
  • 1990-04-10 WO PCT/FI1990/000098 patent/WO1990013269A1/en active IP Right Grant
  • 1990-04-10 CA CA002054214A patent/CA2054214C/en not_active Expired - Fee Related

Patent Citations (2)

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